Illusion Illusion (Striped in Black)
by pariloo
Summary: AU where Kaneki is an illusionist at the circus and Touka meets him for the first time. (Touken)


_Author Note: I just thought this up at school today when in science. I dunno if I'll continue it or not. Tell me whatcha think. Thank you for reading!_

* * *

**{Prologue}**

The circus arrives without warning.

No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color of the surrounding fields. Black-and-white stripes on grey sky; countless tents of varying shapes and sizes, with elaborate wrought-iron fence encasing them in a colorless world. Even what little ground is visible from the outside is black or white, painted or powered, or treated with some other circus trick.

Within hours everyone in town has heard about it. By afternoon, the news has spread several towns over. Word of mouth is a more effective method of advertisement than typeset words and exclamation points on paper pamphlets or posters. It is impressive and unusual news, the sudden appearance of such a mysterious circus.

No one has a proper answer, not even Touka; yet as dusk approached, a substantial group of spectators began to gather outside the gates.

Why are was she here? Her curiosity got the better of her, as curiosity won't do. She stands in the fading light, the mahogany scarf around her neck pulled up against the chilly evening breeze, waiting to see for herself exactly what kind of circus only opens once the sun sets.

The circus looks abandoned and empty. But Touka thinks that perhaps she can smell caramel wafting through the wind, beneath the crisp scent of the autumn leaves. A subtle sweetness at the edges of the cold. How gross.

Minutes pass.

An hour.

And then suddenly the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears. Stretched across the top of the gates, hidden in curls of iron, more firefly-like lights flicker to life. They pop as they brighten, some accompanied by a shower of glowing white sparks and a bit of smoke. The people nearest to the gate take a few steps back.

Then the gates shudder and unlock, seemingly by their own volition. They swing outward, inviting the crowd inside.

The circus is now open.

* * *

The sign says **_Hall of Mirrors. DO NOT ENTER._ UNDER CONSTRUCTION.**

Touka Kirishima enters anyway.

The purple-haired girl is met not with floor-length unadorned planes of mirrored glass, as she half expected, but hundreds of mirrors of varying shapes and sizes, each in a different frame. As she moves past one mirror reflecting her boots, the mirror next to it shows only empty space and the mirrors on the other side. Her muffler is not present in one mirror and then it returns in the next.

A scoff lets loose from her lips and Touka can't help but pick up her pace. She was admittedly growing more and more uneasy.

Her kagune bubbled in between her shoulder-blades, a sense of discomfort washing over the flat expanse of flesh.

She stops suddenly in her footpath.

Reflected behind her there is a man, though he appears in some mirrors and not in others. When Touka turns, she cannot locate him in the room. The hall leads to a round room, the light within it bright as Touka slowly enters with hesitation.

It radiates from a tall lamp-post that sits in the center, towering black iron with a frosted-glass lamp that looks as though it would be more at home on a city street than in a circus tent.

The walls here are completely mirrored, each long slash of glass placed to align with the striped ceiling visible above and the floor that is painted to match. As the ghoul walks further into the room, it becomes a field of endless streetlamps, the stripes repeating fractal patterns, over and _over and over and over_.

"What are you doing in here?"

"H-Huh?!" A voice causes her to jump- she nearly slips and knocks into one of the reflective surfaces. Catching herself in the nick of time, lavender eyes widen as they lock on a young man.

He is particularly handsome with the prettiest eyes she's ever seen, (olivine, the only way she could distinguish the color) and it seems the male was taller than her by quite a few inches. He's dressed in an impeccably tailored black pinstriped suit, shirt crisp white, adorned with an ebony tie pristine knotted. But what was strange about him was his hair. It was white. Unruly, slightly messy, but stark _white. _She recalls never seeing such a color. It stands out against the sable makeup adjourning his features.

Some sort of dark maquillage is settled upon his eyelids; a jet black, painted-on teardrop emits from one of the bags under those muted green orbs, stopping half-way down an insipid cheek. Touka can't help but wonder which type of facepaint he used; it really looked legit, almost as if he were seriously crying ink.

The male's face remains stern but polite throughout her elongated silence, and for one wild moment it seemed as if he gave a small grin.

"What are you doing in here?" He repeats, voice softer this time, yet still sounding as if it carried the weight of the world on his breaking octaves. The girl silently notes that he doesn't sound so hostile.

But because her heart is still racing and adrenaline is pouring itself throughout her cold veins, lilac orbs search his body up and down for anything harmful.

Touka's scrutinizing gaze first flickers to his hands, just to be sure that he's not holding a weapon of some sort. She only comes to the conclusion that the moons of his fingernails are painted black, pallid hands clasped together tightly. Her eyes go up, slowly, until a slip of paper pinned to the front of the boy's suit catches her attention.

She has to squint to see it correctly.

The writing is in black ink, neat, and in perfect cursive.

Blue lips form the curves of the words before they fall off a dry tongue and shatter on the frozen earth below chilled feet.

"Kaneki Ken?"

He smiles.


End file.
